The California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC) represents educators, policymakers, and researchers who are working to study and advance the use of authentic approaches to assessment, such as presentations, projects, and portfolios, which require students to demonstrate applied knowledge of content and use of 21st century skills.

The collaborative serves as a professional learning community dedicated to the advancement of meaningful assessments for California students. Throughout the school year, CPAC members deepen and refine their performance assessment practices through in-person meetings, site visits, and information sharing. Participants have developed common principles that inform and guide their various approaches to performance assessment.

The Learning Policy Institute (LPI) supports CPAC by orchestrating learning opportunities for participants, and engaging in research and documentation of performance assessment practices. The lessons captured and documented will inform educators seeking to implement performance assessments in their schools, districts, and networks. Research findings will also provide local, state, and federal policymakers with important information and context as they develop next-generation assessment and accountability policies.

CPAC is composed of over 60 schools from across the state, as well as representatives from Fresno, Jefferson Union, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pasadena, and San Francisco school districts. Big Picture Learning, Envision Schools, High Tech High, Internationals Network for Public Schools, and New Tech Network are also participating in the collaborative.

The Power of Performance Assessments: Oakland Unified’s Graduate Capstone Project

In the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), a yearlong Graduate Capstone Project provides an opportunity for students to research, analyze, and become experts in a topic of their own choosing. A new video and video clips, produced by the Learning Policy Institute and OUSD, show how this complex project, which is used as a districtwide performance assessment, is building students’ ownership of their own learning and helping them develop and use critical thinking and communication skills.

What skills and knowledge are students acquiring through their work on a Graduate Capstone Project?

How has the Graduate Capstone Project shifted teaching and learning?

What changes have schools and the district made to support the implementation of the Graduate Capstone Project?

What should school or district administrators know about implementing a Graduate Capstone Project?

Featured Resources

During 2015, a group of diverse states began to work together to redesign their accountability systems so as to better support school improvement and students’ acquisition of deeper learning skills to ensure all students are college, career, and life ready upon graduation. This report documents the progress made by 10 states to transform their systems of accountability to support more meaningful learning opportunities for all students.

There is an adage in education that what you test guides what you teach. Those who care about democracy may soon have reason to celebrate, as the California Legislature is currently weighing a recommendation from the California Department of Education to implement a test to measure students’ knowledge of civics. The thinking goes that if we test for civics, then we are more likely to have schools pay attention to how prepared students are for democracy.

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state assessment systems must be designed to measure higher-order thinking skills and understanding. This report, published in partnership with the Council of Chief State Schools Officers (CCSSO), details how states can use performance assessments—including portfolios, projects, and extended-performance tasks—to assess what students know and are able to do.

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